Displaced Christians wait for aid at a church in Hamdaniya, Iraq. Photo: Reuters

Does innocent human life matter in the Middle East if it is Christian?

We ask because while Israel’s efforts to defend itself against terrorism from Hamas have provoked worldwide condemnation and demonstrations, the ethnic cleansing of a Christian community that has been in Iraq for more than 1,600 years continues with only a whimper of protest.

The developments are the latest chapter in a larger story that includes the burning of Coptic churches in Egypt, the jailing of a pastor in Iran and the exodus of Palestinian Christians in the face of growing Muslim intolerance.

Now the Islamic State of Iraq has declared a caliphate — and continues the savage work of ridding the region of all those who do not share its brand of Islam.

When its fighters took Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, back in June, they gave Christians there a choice: convert to Islam, pay a huge tax or die.

Christian homes were marked with an Arabic “N” for “Nazarene,” and the property confiscated. Crosses have been removed from churches, which have been sacked and desecrated.

The result today is that there are no Christians left in this city.

A year ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki asked for drone strikes on ISIS before it reached the cities — but was turned down by the Obama administration, which downplayed the threat from ISIS.

All of which leaves these Christians the world’s most lonely people: with their own nation unable to defend them, America unwilling to help them and a world that would simply like to forget them.